Chapter 32 Time to Receive Monthly Pay!
One should not be too idle, nor should one get up too early.
Lin Xiushui was free and got up early. Early in the morning, she stared at a green-feathered, red-beaked bird.
She managed to stammer out, "Don't scream for help."
"Don't shout," the little parrot hopped onto the man's other shoulder, level with Lin Xiushui's head, stomped its claws, then jumped up and flapped its wings, softly calling, "Help."
"Save you?" Lin Xiushui rubbed her temples. This guy seemed perfectly fine. "Your name is Abao?"
The little parrot jumped onto the man's head, shaking its head and wiggling its rear end, and angrily called out, "Cuihua, Cuihua!"
The bird keeper then seemed to wake from a dream, grabbed the little parrot, and pulled it so hard it hurt his scalp. The little parrot then tried to pull his beak, and he grew a thick beard.
“Young lady, this bird that can mimic human speech is called Cuihua, not Abao,” the bird keeper explained with a simple smile. “It’s a parrot from Sichuan. After it came to town, its parents passed away, leaving it and Abao for a day or two. Its parents said it wasn’t very smart, couldn’t mimic speech, and wasn’t very good-looking, so I took it in.”
"It's a good bird that only speaks the local language right now."
Cuihua jumped onto Lin Xiushui's table, swaggered around, and hummed, "Good bird! Cuihua, good bird!"
Lin Xiushui poked it with her finger; it was fluffy, but she still didn't understand. She was extremely puzzled. "What exactly are you trying to save? I'm a sewer, not a bird doctor. Tell me honestly, did Li Xixian tell you this?"
Because in his leisurely profession, people either fight cocks, raise quails, parrots, fight birds, raise eagles, or fight crickets, grasshoppers, and all sorts of insects. She racked her brains and realized that no one else had as much free time as him.
The bird keeper stroked his beard and explained guiltily, "I really had no other choice. I was so eager to save the bird that I borrowed his family's miserly rooster. When he heard about this, he immediately said he had to find you, so I hurriedly brought Cuihua over."
He rambled on and on, and only after he finished did he hesitantly explain the reason: "Cuihua is smart and can mimic speech, speaking some human language, but Abao is not very good at speaking, but he is very good at imitating the calls of other birds, and he sounds incredibly similar to them."
Lin Xiushui retorted, "What does this have to do with saving a life?"
“That’s very relevant,” the bird keeper said regretfully. “I used to just listen to it for fun and never took it seriously, until a nest of magpies moved into the tree in front of my house and they started arguing every day.”
"But my silly bird refuses to learn anything good when I teach it. It only likes to learn unorthodox things. It can't be bad if it tries to imitate the way magpies talk, but what it learns is the language that magpies use when they quarrel."
“It was making a lot of noise inside the house, and the magpies heard it. And then…” the bird keeper said, his voice filled with sorrow, almost on the verge of tears. “We scolded it outside, it banged on the windows, it pecked at it as soon as we went out, it threw its droppings on our clothes and windows, and at night we would call a bunch of magpies over to chatter and curse us on the roof. We couldn’t get rid of them no matter what we did.”
“Abao was so scared that he wouldn’t eat or drink. I thought about taking them to someone else’s house, but they wouldn’t sleep all night and lost feathers. So I had no choice but to bring them back. As soon as they saw us come back, that dead bird would chase after us and peck at my window every day. It’s as petty as a pinhead. I’ve never seen such a vengeful bird.”
Cuihua stomped her feet angrily and shouted, "Bad bird! Bad bird!" "The magpie is afraid of the hawk, but the hawk has gone to Lin'an. I thought I'd carve a hawk to scare them. The carpenter said it would take about twenty days to carve. If it takes about twenty days, I'll really die."
The bird keeper was overcome with sorrow. "Right now, they won't eat, drink, or sleep. They have to stay in their own cages. Their feathers stand on end at the slightest noise. I've had such a hard time raising them. Most parrots from Sichuan and Chongqing don't survive here. They can't be cold in winter or hot in summer. They've been fed green fruit, small pine trees, and ramie seeds since they were little. Do you know how hard it was for me to raise them to this size?"
Cuihua nuzzled against someone's hand, its little head bobbing back and forth, as if saying, "Was it easy for me? Was it easy for me?"
Lin Xiushui said, "You little rascal."
“It’s a bird, Cuihua is a bird,” Cuihua walked to the side, not wanting to pay attention to Lin Xiushui, and started cooing again.
The bird keeper took a handful of rice from the bag. Cuihua stood there, chewed it again and again, and then spat the husks onto the ground without making a sound.
He told Lin Xiushui the truth: magpies are birds too, and as a bird keeper, he would not kill other birds for the sake of his own.
He had no choice but to chase them away, but he couldn't really hurt them. As a result, the magpies got the better of him and wouldn't leave at all. They only swarmed his house and never went to anyone else's house.
Lin Xiushui understood his meaning; he wanted her to imitate the shape of a falcon, make an eagle, and hang it there to scare away the magpies.
“This method won’t work,” Lin Xiushui shook her head. “I can’t make such a lifelike eagle either. If you really want to scare away birds, maybe making a scarecrow would be useful.”
Magpies are actually quite large and not afraid of people. They are also big and hold grudges. When Lin Xiushui was in Shanglintang, a family destroyed a magpie's nest. As a result, the magpies dropped droppings from the sky every day and even ate the rice in their fields. This went on for two years before finally stopping.
Of course, Lin Xiushui made a simple bamboo frame scarecrow, dressed it in clothes and a hat, and told the bird keeper to go back and try it out.
It was no use; that thing was incredibly audacious, unafraid of people, much less of scarecrows.
When Lin Xiushui returned from work, he sighed and said, "Don't even mention it. It flipped my hat upside down. I knew it wouldn't move, but it squatted on my clothes and just stood there, refusing to budge."
He looked dejected. "What can I do? Is there really no other way? How about you make me an eagle?"
"Eagle, eagle!" Cuihua jumped up and shouted, "Go!"
Lin Xiushui just wanted to get the person and the bird to the side; how could they raise birds and chickens like that? They didn't seem to be very bright.
While she remained silent, Cuihua called out again, "Drive away the bad birds and save Abao!"
This was the longest sentence Lin Xiushui had ever heard this little parrot say.
"Help, I'll give you an idea for your sake."
Cuihua flew over, perched on her shoulder, rubbed her little head against her clothes, and mumbled "okay, okay."
Lin Xiushui did indeed come up with an idea, and upon hearing it, the bird keeper's eyes widened. "Young lady, how did you come up with that? Brilliant!"
"Just you wait and see."
He wasn't the only one waiting; Wang Yuelan brought Xiaohe over to see. The bird keeper's house was in a small alley next to Nanwazi, not far from Sangqiao Ferry, just across a bridge.
His house had a small courtyard, and not far from the courtyard was an old mulberry tree. The nest of magpies that committed the crime lived on it. They were very arrogant and brazen. Most of the ground in the bird keeper's courtyard was covered with bird droppings.
Seeing a group of people enter, they even circled over to look, completely unafraid. The scarecrow that Lin Xiushui had made lay alone on the ground, with two or three magpies swaggering around on it.
Cuihua hid behind the window and whispered, "Bad bird, bad bird."
The other parrot, Abao, huddled in its cage, its head covered, trembling with fear.
But soon, the bird keeper excitedly poked it, picked it up, and let it look through the hole he had cut in the window. Abao lay half-dead in his hands, its eyes half-closed. When it saw what was happening outside, it scrambled up, carefully poked its head out, jumped up, and shouted, "Wonderful!"
He shouted again, "Hit it!"
The other onlookers, huddled behind the window, watched with great interest.
Su Qiaoniang was hiding in the gap between the cloth hanging from the wall and the eaves, standing on a low stool. A wooden puppet, about half a person's height, hung in front of the cloth. It looked like an old man and held a palm-leaf fan in his hand.
At first, the magpie was a little hesitant and dared not approach. It hopped around nearby to test the waters and flew back and forth to entice the figure. When it saw that the figure did not move at all, it became bolder and immediately flew over to peck at it.
At that moment, Su Qiaoniang pulled the string and rope, and the old man who had been motionless suddenly jumped up, nimbly raised his hand, and swooped down on the magpie with the palm-leaf fan in his hand. With a snap, the fan hit the magpie right on the body.
The magpie cried out loudly, its feathers bristling, and it tried to back away in fear. But it was still defiant and flew down from above to peck at the magpie. The old man turned around, took a few steps up to the platform, and leaped up. The falling palm-leaf fan hit the magpie again, making it cry out loudly.
After two or three rounds of this, the magpie lost a few feathers and flew away in a sorry state, as it was about to move house overnight!
It turned out that Lin Xiushui's idea was to call Su Qiaoniang over. She had many puppets that had been returned by the puppet troupe, which could come in handy. Originally, she planned to scare the magpie by moving the palm-leaf fan when it got close, but she didn't expect that Su Qiaoniang could manipulate the puppets as if she were doing kung fu.
Cuihua yelled, "Great!"
Abao flew to the window, stood by the window and stretched his head out. He saw the magpie fly out, jumped up, wanted to eat pine nuts, and even carried them to everyone's hands.
"Mine, mine!" Cuihua cried out anxiously, furious. "Stinky Abao!"
"I'm not saving it anymore, I'm not saving it!"
"Pine nuts, pine nuts, stinky Abao."
This caused everyone present to burst into laughter.
This ten-day-long revenge tale by the magpie was thwarted by the puppet on a string. The puppet was bought at a high price by the bird breeder, who intended to keep it at home, giving the penniless Su Qiaoniang enough money to last another month.
Lin Xiushui earned several dozen coins. After putting them in her bag, she said to Su Qiaoniang, "Next time there's work like this, I'll call you again. I'll join in the fun, and you can earn some other money."
Su Qiaoniang was still shocked: "In all these years, I've fought with people, but I've never fought with birds."
"Sigh, when you live long enough, especially when you encounter me, all sorts of strange and wonderful things can happen," Lin Xiushui was already used to it. She had never seen a parrot listen to talk, so she wasn't surprised at all.
Who knows, one day someone might come to her asking her to make clothes for pigs, and she might not hesitate for a second.
Seeing that Su Qiaoniang hadn't recovered yet, she said, "People shouldn't pursue the righteous path too much. How can the money earned through the righteous path compare to the money earned through such wicked means?"
"What is evil?" Xiaohe waved to the two parrots, hopping forward, then turned back to ask.
Lin Xiushui said, "It's like a fish swimming ashore and asking me to make it a pair of shoes."
Xiaohe frowned and thought carefully, "But fish don't have legs."
"Isn't this just weird?"
Looking back on the jobs she had encountered, she realized they were truly shady. She often wondered at night if she had worshipped the wrong god of wealth. What kind of god of wealth had she worshipped to protect her livestock?
I really don't understand.
Fortunately, by the first day of the third month of spring, the work came much more normally. Of course, when she saw two or three people carrying a large bed, she really didn't understand why it was necessary to go to so much trouble.
The man in charge said, "This is what we redeemed from the pawnshop. As a result, the cloth at the head of the bed was full of holes. We spent a lot of money to redeem it, and it would be a shame to use it in such a rotten state, so we thought we'd mend it."
Lin Xiushui stepped forward to take a look and exclaimed in surprise. The thing embedded in the headboard was not actually made of silk fabric. Instead, it was woven with different colored yarns according to a pattern, with holes punched in the top, bottom, left, and right. It was a very special pattern that Lin Xiushui had never seen on the market before.
The flowers were a riot of colors, red and green, woven together into a large cluster of crabapple and roses. At first glance, no one noticed the hole; all that could be seen were the flowers in full bloom.
However, Lin Xiushui couldn't fix it. She pointed to the fabric and said, "It not only looks nice, but it was also very difficult to weave. Dozens of kinds of yarn were used. I can only weave them in if I dye each kind of yarn the same color. Otherwise, I can't fix it."
“There’s another way: whoever wove it can weave it again.”
The tall man said, "It was originally woven by my mother. She was a skilled weaver and used to make pattern books. No matter what the artist drew, she could weave it according to the pattern. This bed was woven by her own hands. However, she pawned the bed before she fell ill and passed away before she recovered. We redeemed the bed for her."
"If it can't be fixed, then forget it," the man smiled. "We'll burn some money for her during Qingming Festival and tell her to come home and fix it when she has time."
The three brothers carried the bed back with heavy steps. Lin Xiushui glanced at it, then sat down again. There were many things that couldn't be fixed.
More importantly, she can make up for it.
She smiled at the awkward-looking, middle-aged man in front of her, who was wearing patched clothes, and said, "It can be patched."
"It would be good if it could be repaired," the middle-aged man said cautiously, bending slightly. "How much would it cost to repair these two garments?"
"It's just a few tears, I'll mend them so you can't tell, it'll only cost you ten coins," Lin Xiushui said, taking out the thread, wiping the needle with a cloth, and looking up to ask, "Uncle, where did you come from?"
“I used to be a fishmonger in the fish market,” the middle-aged man said, then suddenly laughed. “But my hands hurt so badly that I couldn’t gut fish anymore. My son and daughter-in-law came by boat to pick me up and take me to Mingzhou. They work as small brokers there, dealing in fish to make a living.”
“I’m not afraid of being laughed at by you, young lady. I’ve never been out of town before, and I’m afraid of embarrassing my child. I’ve heard that you’re good at mending clothes, so I’ll mend them for you so you can look presentable when you go out.”
He hesitated again after he finished speaking, "Can it be repaired so that it's undetectable?"
"Of course you can't tell," Lin Xiushui said, laying the clothes flat on her palm and pointing to the newly mended area. "Can you tell?"
The middle-aged man leaned closer, squinting to look. He couldn't see much, and exclaimed happily, "I really can't tell!"
“Yes, Uncle, you’re so lucky. Your wife and son even came to pick you up to go out,” Lin Xiushui said with a smile. “I heard that Mingzhou is a good place. That’s what my acquaintances say.”
"I don't know," the middle-aged man just laughed. "Once my hand is better, I'll go back to gutting fish there as usual."
Lin Xiushui mended his clothes and showed them to him. His hands were stiff, but he slowly put them on. He looked down at his clothes, and his wrinkled face became smooth. He thanked Lin Xiushui, limped out, and walked to where someone was going to meet him.
She carefully wound up the thread, lowered her head, and carefully placed the ten coins inside. Lost in thought, she was startled when someone knocked on her table twice. She looked up.
"Hey, what brings you here?" Lin Xiushui glanced at Zhang Musheng. "Did you change your mind again? Do you still want to make a pair of high boots?"
Zhang Musheng pointed to himself, "Didn't you see anything special about it?"
"I can tell."
Zhang Musheng looked expectantly at Lin Xiushui, who glanced at him and said, "Before it was black ash, now it's black charcoal."
"You!" Zhang Musheng was truly annoyed. He pointed at himself forcefully and said, enunciating each word clearly, "I've grown taller!"
Lin Xiushui's first thought upon hearing this was, "Great! I don't have to pay a hundred coins."
My second thought was, where exactly is it growing? In my hair? In my shoes?
However, instead of saying it to anger Zhang Musheng, she beckoned him, "Take off your shoes and stand on that mulberry tree where the lines were carved to measure it."
When I saw that she was silent, hey, she really did grow quite a bit taller, about the height of a little finger.
Zhang Musheng raised his head, "I don't rely on shoes or hats, I rely purely on my own natural beauty."
Lin Xiushui didn't deny it. After all, despite Zhang Musheng's dark complexion, thin build, and constant use of a big red flower in his hair, and his seemingly unserious appearance, he was a man of his word.
For the past twenty days or so since she gave the advice, if it hasn't rained, she goes to the Silkworm Flower Bodhisattva Temple every day at dawn to jump and touch the bamboo pole, alternating between her left and right feet. If it rains, she will still try to touch the bamboo pole with a red cloth hanging from it, even if she gets scolded by her parents at home.
Every day at noon, he would go out to catch fish and shrimp, even when it rained. In any case, Lin Xiushui ate the fish and shrimp he caught more than once.
With all the jumping and bouncing, and eating fish and shrimp, his appetite has increased dramatically; it's hard not to grow taller.
Previously, Zhang Musheng always thought that he could grow taller by relying on shoes, hats, and other external things, but now he is indeed growing inch by inch by himself.
Lin Xiushui sincerely said, "Congratulations!"
“I’m not short anymore,” Zhang Musheng sobbed, wiping his face. “I’ve finally grown taller. Don’t I look taller than that old man’s cane now?”
"That's too high... isn't it?"
Zhang Musheng affirmed his height, saying, "It must be taller than my cane."
“The person I am most grateful to on my journey to adulthood is none other than you, young lady, even though you are younger than me,” Zhang Musheng paused here, and then said firmly, “I have to call you sister. Can you recognize me as your sworn brother and I call you sworn sister? During festivals, I will definitely bring pigs and ducks to your door and kowtow to thank you.”
ah?
Lin Xiushui glanced at him and walked away quickly, saying, "I can't handle this, please spare me."
"Sis, why are you leaving? Sis, don't go! I haven't mentioned the thank-you gift yet!"
"If you don't leave, are you waiting to stay for dinner?" Lin Xiushui ran off quickly, too lazy to pay attention to her, she had to hurry up and get to work.
She would row her little boat out of the sluice gate, the water rippling, the houses on both banks slowly receding into the distance as she rowed. Occasionally, she would take on a couple of jobs, with someone lowering a basket from their window. She would take the basket and put the contents on the boat. Some people would be under the eaves, drinking porridge from a bowl, and then get up and go to the railing to invite her to come up to their house for a bowl of porridge.
There were women washing clothes by the river, and boats rushing by to buy medicine from Li Mama's pharmacy. There was also a baby crying loudly because his eyelid had been stung by a bee, and his parents had hitched a ride on someone else's boat to take him to the eye medicine shop in the west.
Lin Xiushui watched with a smile as she turned the corner and entered the bustling Sangling Lane. With the Shangsi Festival approaching, the clothes here were always the most fashionable. Young women, with fresh flowers in their hair, came hand in hand to look at clothes and try on the new silk shoes.
She disembarked and walked among the crowd, looking like a young woman born in town. When she first arrived a month ago, she was so thin she looked unrecognizable. She wore an old blue jacket, the most ordinary style, with no makeup and no interest in dressing up. In Sangling Lane, a place where people dressed smartly and fashionably, she stood out.
Compared to last month, she has gained some weight in her face, her lips are no longer pale, her eyes are bright and clear, and she has the leisure to dress herself up, styling her hair in a tassel bun with two blue ribbons tied at the ends and two pink and white camellias in front.
Although she was still wearing the old blue cloth clothes, she had made a new collar, embroidered patterns, and woven a flower knot to hang around her waist. She also carried a bag she had pieced together herself, which was no longer a monotonous color; she had pieced together many colors, making it colorful and gaudy.
During these days, she naturally integrated into Sangqing Town. All the jobs she took and the things she saw changed her in small ways, and she accepted these changes.
Many women on the road looked at her, noticing how light her steps were, and then they smiled at each other and turned away.
Lin Xiushui stepped into the clothing shop. Gu Niangzi looked at her and smiled, "This bag is nice today, enough to spend."
“I put this together on a whim yesterday,” Lin Xiushui said, taking it down to show her. “I found that the green and orange colors go quite well together. If you want one, I’ll make one for your Ayu too.”
When Gu Niangzi spoke of her daughter, her eyes crinkled with a smile, "Don't spoil her; she's always asking for this and that."
"Oh, right, Ah Qiao, come here," Madam Gu said, pulling up a stool for her to sit down as she led her into the house.
Lin Xiushui was puzzled. She had been mending silk and satin quite well these days, quickly and steadily. She had also taught Da Chunling how to iron fine cloth. She even went to the cloth-grooming shop every few days to check the cloth, and she never missed a single task. She didn't quite understand why Madam Gu wanted to see her.
As Madam Gu prepared tea, she slowly said, "It's a real waste of your talent to keep your skills here, but there are just too many people at the tailor shop right now. You're used to being here, so it wouldn't be very suitable for you to go in."
“I’m thinking of moving you to a new place in the back building, where you can sew. The work in the front is simple. You can iron the cloth in the morning and sew the clothes, attach collars or other things in the afternoon. You can do two jobs by yourself. I’ll talk to the accountant and give you an extra two hundred coins when we pay you in April.”
That is, Lin Xiushui's salary increased by two hundred coins, which was recorded in the accounts. The extra six hundred coins came separately from Madam Gu's side.
What surprised Lin Xiushui even more than the wages was that she now had a dedicated place to sew clothes. It was a spacious and bright spot in the back building, near a row of windows, with a large table, a soft chair, a small cabinet, and her own sewing kit.
From ironing to sewing, she has taken a big step forward.
Moreover, when she finished work today, she received her monthly salary, wrapped in a red cloth, exactly one string of cash, heavy with the weight of the money she had been waiting for.
She was overjoyed, especially since Madam Gu had promised her a bolt of cloth. She chose a plum-green color that was sure to be perfect, and the size was extra large, enough for her, her aunt, and Xiaohe to each make a top.
Lin Xiushui's smile didn't fade; her expression was bright. She wanted to talk to her aunt.
Of course she wanted to buy things and send them back to Shanglintang. She remembered that when she came from Guandu, Aunt Chen had offered her many good things, but she hadn't accepted them, as she had already received a lot of kindness from her.
This is the busiest time for spring plowing. Rice from Shanglintang is transported to Sangqing Town and then to Lin'an Prefecture. During the spring plowing season, the Transport Commissioner will send people to keep an eye on the situation, fearing that the yield per mu will not be enough, so the farmers will not be able to leave to come to the town.
Lin Xiushui had some trouble finding someone to send things back to Shanglintang, as Guandu wouldn't deliver them to people's homes. In the past, when she and her aunt exchanged things, Chen Jiuchuan would deliver them back and forth, but he had been transporting cargo to Qingyuan Prefecture for the past two months.
Thinking this, she put away her monthly wages, carefully stored the cloth, and rowed the boat on the river, reflecting on the past and the future, and realizing that she was living in the best of times.
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